Kyoto and NATURE

The last segment of my 3-part visit to Kyoto is about the sheer beauty of its natural geographic location. This encompasses not only the city's topography, but also its flora and fauna. Being that Tokyo is an enormous metropolis city that stretches for miles and miles, one really doesn't get a chance to see any of Japan's natural facets unless a train is taken out of the city.
 That being said, in truth, I've only ever been exposed to Japan's nature twice: once in Kofu, and this time, in Kyoto.

This umbrella makes things look more epic.

To start off, Kyoto is nested closely by several mountains. Not tall ones, mind you, but mountains none the less that would be troublesome to populate. In reason of this, the city fades out around the edges in order to give place to a springy, mostly untouched, wild life. The transition is not jarring; it's one that gradually seeps in. Skyscrapers give place to residential areas, then turn into woods as you reach the foot of one of the mountains.  At the foot of one such mountain, Arashiyama, could be found a bamboo grove! Here, the bamboo was harvested for use in the building of fences and furniture and whatnot.

One of the mountains in the Arashiyama area is also famous for its Japanese macaques. Whilst ascending the mountain, various signs can be seen throughout the path, instructing visitors not to show the monkeys plastic bags, not to touch them, or even to make eye contact for more than a second or so. How vicious the monkeys actually are, I can't tell for sure, though. Japanese macaques are known for adopting very human traits, such as bathing in hot springs (the artificial ones intended for humans) and rolling snowballs for fun (in northernmost areas.) The monkeys in this particular mountain had been exposed to humans for so many generations that they no longer gave a shit whether you approached it or not. Hell, they were just chilling. And would you look at the number of them! They were everywhere; climbing on the roofs and the fences, sitting in the branches. I was certainly impressed.

WHAT'S GOING ON?

We were actually indoors,
this monkey was outside.

Mind you, I wouldn't necessarily call them cute (not nearly as good looking as Cortez, the squirrel monkey I owned in Peru.) They're downright ugly bastards, with crimson red faces and asses, and feverish looking yellow eyes. Looking back at some of the pictures I took, I was immediately reminded of the opening scene from 28 Days Later.

Nonetheless, they're lovable in their own way, I guess. At least, the littles ones were.

And that about sums up my Kyoto trip! It's been a good ride, and I certainly wouldn't mind visiting again - but there's still a lot left in Japan to see. I have my eyes turned towards Fukuoka, Okinawa and Sapporo. But Ken and I are back in Tokyo for now, where, even still, many adventures and discoveries lie in wait for us.